Braska Abreu
Personality To people who don't know him, Braska seems like a naive, idealistic dreamer with his head stuck in the clouds. He _is_ a dreamer, but his idealism is strongly tempered with a knowledge of how things work in the world. He accepts this, but he also believes that if he tries hard enough, he can change things for the better. Above all, Braska cares about people, without reservation. This isn't to say that he's all sweetness and light, all the time - he gets angry, but when he does, he tends to show it by going cold and utterly formal to the person, rather than by shouting or arguing. To Braska, family and friends are essentially the same - he has little enough blood family that he treats his close friends as others would treat family. Above all, he wants to protect those he's close to from being hurt - in the emotional sense, more so than the physical, though he's definitely the type to throw himself between someone he cares about and a bullet. On a day-to-day basis, he's generally curious as hell. He loves meeting new people, and experiencing new things - he'd try anything at least once. He's got some boundaries he won't cross, though - while he understands that sometimes violence is the only solution, its one he avoids as much as he possibly can (and probably frequently gets into debates about it). He also has a difficult time knowingly hurting another person, even if it's ultimately in their best interest. Aside from that, though, he's very open-minded - he respects the spirit and intent of the teachings of the Church, but doesn't cling so tightly to the rules that he's blinded by them - if he feels a rule does more harm than good, he's willing to speak up about it. He's the first to point out injustices and corruption, and this tendency has earned him the reputation of being something of a troublemaker. History Braska was born in a small fishing village, on the banks of a river. His family was poor but happy, and so Braska had a fairly content childhood. As he grew older, his talent for magic, particularly white magic, became apparent, and his parents sent him to the local Temple of Yevon for training. He was a quick learner, and by the time he was in his early teens, had surpassed his teacher in the small, rural temple, and was sent on to the main temple of the church, in Bellcius. His talents flourished there, and he learned other skills beyond just healing - reading, writing, literature, philosophy. When he was eighteen, he was ordained as a priest of the church, and stayed in Bellcius, working as a healer at the temple. Within a year or two, however, he grew frustrated with the buearocracy of the main church, and their avoidance at actually helping those who needed it the most, namely the city's poor. He left to the city to travel for a while, hoping to get his mixed feelings about his faith sorted out. It was near the end of these travels that he met a mechanic named Cid Dalabane, and his sister, Ranya. Braska became quick friends with the two siblings - Cid was gruff, but he had a blunt honesty that Braska respected, and Ranya was full of life and energy, which quickly entranced Braska. They fell in love, and ended up eloping, a move which frustrated Cid. The new couple moved back to Bellicus, where Braska resumed his previous work, despite his reservations, and Ranya found part time work as a mechanic. A year and a half later, they had a daughter, Yuna, who was the joy of both of their lives. When Yuna was three, Ranya took a trip to visit her brother, in an attempt to heal the rift caused by her elopement. On the way there, however, the airship she had booked passage on crashed, and she was killed. Cid blamed Braska for taking his sister to the city, and cut all ties with him, leaving Braska to raise Yuna by himself. He taught her magic, and passed on the tenets of the church, even as he was clashing increasingly frequently with the higher-ups within the church hierarchy. When Yuna was seven, Braska was called to assist with an outbreak of plague in a small town on the border of the Badlands. Thinking it would only be a short trip, a few weeks at most, he left Yuna in the care of the few friends he still had in the church. The work was difficult, but ultimately successful. Unfortunately, when they were leaving the town to return to Bellcius, Braska got separated from the rest of the group he was travelling with, and became lost in the Badlands. He stumbled upon a pool of mana crystals, and falling, became stuck. The crystals held him in suspended animation for ten years before their power finally diminished. When he returned to the city, he found everything had changed. Everyone had given him up for dead, and his daughter had left the city. He decided that with so much different, there was little point in staying in the city, and left in search of Yuna. Relationships Logs * External link Quotes/Trivia Rumor Mill PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: Fairly powerful healer-mage, pacifist, ex-priest of the Church of Yevon, currently searching for his daughter. SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE: Not so much 'special' as 'things you have to ask about before he'll tell you', as he has very little to hide - he spent roughly ten years in what was essentially suspended animation in a mana pool in the Badlands (he didn't /mean/ to fall in, which just makes it extra embarassing), and he had a very rocky relationship with the higher-ups in the church hierarchy - he was fairly outspoken about corruption in the upper ranks and the church shirking it's duty to those in need. The latter is why he's an ex-priest (the surrender of the title was entirely voluntary - he felt like remaining affiliated meant he was endorsing their views). POP CULTURE PHENOMENON?: Haha no.